Francesco Troche

Francesco Troche (1459-1503) was a chamberlain of the Papal States, as an advisor and confidant to Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia. He was executed for treason, although his brother Egidio Troche had been the one to betray the Borgia.

Biography
Senator Egidio Troche's younger brother, Francesco worked for the Vatican and was a trusted agent of Pope Alexander VI. Among other things, he spied on Lucrezia Borgia while she was in the countryside and was sent to the French court to pressure King Louis XII of France to support her marriage to Alfonso d'Este. Cesare Borgia also spirited Francesco to France in 1502 to persuade Louis to abandon support for the Orsini family.

Death
After, they had a bit of a falling out. Troche had given Cesare's plans for the invasion of Romagna to his older brother, who in turn turned it in to the Venetian ambassador. When Cesare found out, he had Micheletto Corella strangle Troche at the east gate of the Baths of Trajan with a garrote, killing him. After Micheletto trangled Francesco, Cesare found and killed a nobleman, Jacopo di Santa Croce, for no apparent reason.

Once Francesco's body was floating in the Tiber, Cesare issued a declaration calling for his arrest, claiming he had "fled Rome", an early instance of a savvy politician spinning a story for the press.